President Barack Obama on Thursday attempted to ratchet up the political pressure on House Republicans to go along with a compromise extension of payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits passed by the Senate.

Noting that even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had called earlier Thursday for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to agree to the two-month extension deal, Obama said that there is bipartisan consensus on the issue and, yet, it still can’t be resolved.

“Has this place become so dysfunctional that even when people agree to things we can’t do it?” Obama said in brief remarks at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

Earlier Thursday, Obama declined Boehner’s invitation to visit Capitol Hill to work out a deal on a one-year extension, and in his remarks he contrasted Boehner’s position with McConnell’s statement calling on House Republicans to agree to the two-month deal that was overwhelmingly passed by the Senate.

The White House has argued that the two-month plan should be put into place to allow more time for negotiations, and to assure Americans that their taxes won’t go up at the start of 2012.

“This is exactly why people get so frustrated with Washington,” Obama said. “This isn’t a typical Democrat versus Republican issue. This is an issue where an overwhelming number of people in both parties agree. How can we not get that done?”

Obama said he is ready to sign that agreement, one with which most Democrats and Senate Republicans — and even some House Republicans — agree. But legislation has not arrived on his desk because “a faction of House Republicans have refused to support this compromise.”

House GOP leaders have said they are only willing to pass a one-year extension, because anything shorter than that would bring too much uncertainty.

The White House began a Twitter campaign earlier this week using the hashtag #40dollars to encourage Americans to write in to say how the failure to extend the tax cut might hurt their everyday lives. A family earning $50,000 annually would lose $40 per paycheck if the tax cut extension expires on Jan. 1, according to the White House.

Joining Obama on the stage were 16 people described by the White House as “Americans who would see their taxes go up if the House Republicans fail to act, including some of those Americans who have responded to this call to illustrate what $40 means to them.”

These people, Obama said, see that as a substantial amount of money in their own lives, but “it may be that there are some folks in the House who refuse to vote for this compromise because they don’t think that 40 bucks is a lot of money.”

“Enough is enough,” he added later to applause. “The people standing with me today can’t afford any more games.”

Obama stressed that what’s really at stake are small but important pieces of average Americans’ lives, like a few nights of heating oil or a meal with kids.

“So many of these debates in Washington end up being portrayed as which party is winning, which party is losing, but what we have to remind ourselves is this is about people, the American people, and whether they win,” he said.

After Obama’s remarks, Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck insisted it was the president who was refusing to negotiate, not House Republicans. “It’s disappointing the president says he agrees with the House’s desire for a full-year extension, but has still declined to negotiate with Republicans to make it a reality,” he said.